Fire-escape



(No Model.) L A. ELKE.

FIRE ESCAPE.

No. 326,961. Patented Sept. 29, 1885.

FIG.

FIG.Z.

IINVENTUR:

ihvrrn STATES LEOPOLD A. H. ENGELKE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATIDN forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,961, dated September 29, 1885.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

BeitknownthatLLEoPoLDA.HENGELKE, of the city and county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes, ot'which improvements the t'ollowingisaspect fication. reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved fire-escape attached, by means of a rope or cable, to a building, showing how the same is operated. Fig. 2 is an interior View of the hand-gripping device. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 00 0c of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an elevation of my improved hand-gripping de vice in the position it occupies when it has clasped the cable or rope; and Fig. 5 is atransverse section on the liner y of Fig. 4.

Innumerable devices have heretofore been constructed of a portable nature for the purpose of effecting the escape from buildings and other structures in case of fire or other emergencies, consisting of an endless rope or band with adjustable hooks, and carrying a sheave for the rope to travel upon. and pro vided with a short tube, made of rubber or analogous material. for the passage of the rope, and performing the function,by the compression of the tube, of a brake for regulating the descent. Again, they have been made consisting of a rope depending from a building and having a compressible slider, made of rubher or other similar collapsible material, for permitting the passage of the rope through it, and also acting as a brake for regulating the velocity of the persons descent. Again,they have been made consisting of a rope having a tubular or cylindrical stem with a frictionlever fulcrumed thereon, and a strap secured to the lower end of the lever, for the purpose of being slipped around the body of a person, depending from the cylindrical stem or slider, for enabling the person to regulate the action of the friction-lever, and thereby regulating the speed of descent.

Vhile all of the above-enmnerated devices are more or less portable, still a serious objection to their practical utility and use is that they all lack one essential feature or requisite in such class designated as portable fireescapes, and that is a hand-gripping device for effecting the descent, which is not a permanent fixture of the rope or cable, but one or any nu mber of which may be clasped around it at any desired point or part of the rope or cable,to enable any number of persons to effect instantaneously and simultaneously a descent from a building or other structure in case of a fire while using but a single rope or cable for that purpose; and it is with a view of accomplishing this very important object that my invention has been specially designed, by providing for this purpose a device of simple construction, possessing durability, and at the same time comparatively inexpensive.

My invention consists of a rope or cable depending from a building or other structure, and having my improved hand gripping device, any number of which may be clasped around the rope or cable at any desired point or part thereon. This hand-gripping device I make of wood or other suitable material in section, the parts or sections of which are hinged together, and the interior has a cylindrical longitudinal bore for the reception of the rope or cable. This bored-out interior portion of each section has a lining or bushing, of rubber or other analogous material. The exterior of the hand-gripping device, resembling in form a dumb-bell, has top and bottom collars t'orthe purpose of properly supporting the hands clasped around it, and a central lateral flange or collar for preventing the hands from coming in contact with one another, while at the same time giving more perfect freedom of movement and manipulation of the hands to regulate the velocity with which the descent of an object depending from the hand-gripping device shall be made, according to the pressure exerted thereupon.

I use rope the diameter of which is slightly greater than the longitudinal bore of the interior of the hand-gripping device when it has clasped the cable or rope, so that there may be always a narrow space between the sections, the object being to have the sections perform the function of a brake to facilitate or retard the descent of the person or other object, as shown clearly in Figs. 1, 4, and 5 of the accompanying drawings.

I also use advantageously in connection with my improved fire-escape, (although not connected with the device,) a sling made of duck ICO or similar material, which may be passed around the neck of the person suspended from the hand-gripping device, and attached to which, by means of a snaffle-hook and ring, is a body-belt made of similar material to that of which the neck-sling is made. This bodybelt may be lengthened or shortened, as desired, for being passed around the body of a child or other object, thereby enabling me to effect the escape of one or more persons with my improved device without in the least affecting the free movement and manipulation of the hands upon the gripping device, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the rope or cable attached to a building, B, or other structure by an ordinary hook, b, and depending from the building B.

0 represents my improved hand-gripping deviee,made of wood or other suitable mate rial, the two sections of which are hinged together, as shown in the drawings at a a a. This hand-grippin g device is made resembling in form a dumbbell, but in sections 0 c, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, andishinged together, the interiorof which has a cylindrical longitudinal bore, d, for the reception of the rope or cable A. This cylindrical longitudinal bore d has a lining or bushing, e, of rubber or other analogous material, for offering a frictional resistance to the speed of descent on' the rope or cable.

The exterior surfaces of the hand-gripping device or dumb-bell has collars f g'at the top and bottom thereof, respectively, and a central collar, h, for the reception of the hands of the person between the collars f h 9, respectively, for the purpose of insuring freedom of movementand manipulation of the hands, and for supporting them upon thehand gripping device to regulate the velocity of descent.

I prefer to have the rope or cable A somewhat longer than the vertical height of the window to which it may be attached, in order that the person descending it may be kept a sufficient distance from the flame or smoke issuing thereunder, the end of the rope being held substantially in the manner shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The mechanism for accomplishing this object being so simple a further description of the invention is deemed unnecessary.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a portable fire-escape, the combination of the hinged handgripping device 0, having collars or flanges f h g thereon, with interior lining or bushing, e, for the reception of, and frictional resistance to, the rope or cable, substantially as and for the purposes described.

LEOPOLD A. H. EN GELKE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES F. ZIEGLER, J. WALTER DOUGLASS. 

